Ella’s POV

I paced my room nervously biting my nails as I looked at the wall clock. It read 2:45 a.m. My heart was jumping out of my chest. My feelings were a mix between scared to death and excited. 

I kept up my appearance with the other servants until it was bed time. There were no more news about the alleged alpha. My back was throbbing in pain, but I shoved the pain aside as I had no room for it now. It was time, I needed to make my move now or shut it down. 

There was no way I was shutting it down. Tonight, I either live or die. I stopped in front of the wall where I hid my 282 dollars. I retrieved the money and put it in my front pocket. I had no idea how long the money is gonna last me, but it was the least of my worries right this moment. 

I was wearing two long sleeved shirts, as it was freezing cold outside at this hour, a ratty washed up jeans, and a beanie on my head to cover my hair. I looked down at my worn out slippers and sighed. I needed a pair of shoes to be able to run at my full speed, but luck was against me. 

I memorized the map in my back pocket while waiting for the clock to reach my go time. I closed my eyes and prayed one last time for things to go my way just this once. I opened the door and closed it behind me without looking back. 

I only had two impossible tasks to achieve and after that, my escape will become very possible. First, I had to find a compass in the armory and figure out the right path to get to the town. I knew how to read one thankfully. 

The second task was the hardest. I needed to sneak past the guards undetected. About half the guards were pure bloods. They would sniff out my scent as soon I approached them. I figured the heavier group will gather around the path that will lead directly to the town. That’s why I was going to take the longer path. I had an idea to cover my scent and I was hoping it was going to throw them off my scent. 

I reached the armory room and opened the door as quietly as I can. It was dark inside, but luckily the room had very large windows that provided some guidance. I’ve been in charge of cleaning the armory many times, so I knew where everything was. I went directly to the second closet on my left and opened it. I saw the compass immediately and grabbed it. 

I was about to close the closet when I noticed a bunch of small short knives next to where the compass was. Huh, I guess I could use all the help I can get. I took four of them and hid two in each back pocket. I never trained of course as that wasn’t a necessity in alpha Grey’s opinion. We were disposable to him, so why should we learn how to defend ourselves from outer threats? Nonetheless, I could still need them. 

I got out of the armory and went down to the kitchen. There was a back door there that led outside. I slowly opened it just a little and peeked outside to see if there was anyone in my line of sight. It was empty, so I got out and closed the door behind me. The cold hit me instantly as well as the smell of the forest a few feet away. It was raining all morning, so the earth was covered in mud. Which is exactly what I needed. I crouched down and hurriedly covered every part of me from head to toe in mud. When I was finished you couldn’t tell what I was wearing underneath. Even my face was covered. It was the best thing to cover my scent. 

I stood up and looked at my compass. It pointed towards the front of the house. But I couldn’t go that way, instead I had to take a detour inside the forest until I walked past the guards and after that I’ll be clear to go in the right direction. I dived into the forest careful not step on anything that snaps. Aside from a strong sense of smell, pure blood werewolves; even most half bloods, had sensitive hearing. 

Ten minutes through the forest, I heard some whispers further down to my right. I went left and kept turning my head to check if someone caught sight of me. Another fifteen minutes passed with no alarms, by that time, I was sweating in spite of the harsh cold. I was far higher up, when I looked back down I could see the lights of the patrol too far to hear me run or smell me. 

I took off running without a second glance. It felt so damn good to run. I felt like I was a trapped animal that finally broke his cage door open and fled. I kept running at a moderate pace for about 15 minutes. I was deep in the woods now. As I stopped to catch my breath a little, I couldn’t help the smile that cracked on my face. That’s it, I made it. I wasn’t caught, I sneaked past the guards and was at least 30 minutes away from the town. I lifted up my head, covered my eyes with my hands, and let the feeling of being free sink in. 

“What are you doing out here at this time?” a deep male voice caused me to have a heart attack

I opened my eyes instantly and turned right to the sound of that man. He was naked. It wasn’t the fact that he was naked that caught my attention. It was the fact that if he was naked, then he must be a werewolf. I have never seen him before; not that I knew every single member of my pack, but I had this feeling that he was from the Crescent Moon pack. Panic flooded inside my chest and I felt it tighten. It was becoming hard to breath. 

No, no, no I was so close to getting my freedom. I will not let this man stop me. He was staring up and down at me with shock. Probably not expecting anyone to be this deep inside the forest looking like they had a swim in a mud pool. It gave me an opportunity to slowly put my hands behind me and retrieve three out of the four knives I grabbed from the armory. I held two knives in my right hand and one knife in my left. I kept one hidden in my pocket in case I needed it later. 

I had to do it fast before he warned the others, I thought to myself. Seeing as I was left handed, I quickly threw the knives that were in my right hand first. 

Like I thought, he wasn’t expecting it at all. Sadly, I had terrible aim. He managed to block them without getting hit, but I expected it since I was sure he had a lot of practice unlike me. In less than a second after I threw the first two knives, I threw the third one with my left hand, and it was aimed straight at him. I didn’t have time to worry about killing someone, it was either kill or be killed. I turned around and started running. I had no idea if I hit him or not. 

I was running at full speed now. I gave it every inch of power, as my life depended on it. My legs were getting numb, and my chest was starting to hurt, but I ignored it. None of this will matter once I get to the town. I kept pushing myself harder and harder. 

About 5 minutes through, my feet left the ground completely as someone; or something, from my right side collided with me. We were flying in midair, and then fell to the ground rolling over each other a couple of times, until he was on top of me. His claws on my shoulders were inches from digging into my flesh. I looked at him in shock. He had deep blue eyes, and black fur. Five seconds later, six other wolves joined us in the clearing we were in. 

That’s it. I failed, I got caught. I’m probably going to die in a few minutes. One of the wolves who arrived was starting to shift back into human form. He had light brown fur. Much to my surprise, it was the same guy that I just tried to kill. 

On the bright side, my knife throwing talent didn’t suck completely. I saw a deep wound on his shoulder caused by my last knife, he was still bleeding from it. He had a murderous look on his face, most likely because of the knife thing. Despite the murderous look he was giving me, he was beautiful, even I; who loath all mankind, had to admit. He was tall, tan, and muscular. He looked to be in his early twenties. He had hazel eyes that I couldn’t decide if they were green or light brown. He had messy long, ash blond hair, it reached the tip of his shoulders. 

“Shift back Joseph” ordered the injured guy. 

Joseph turned out to be the wolf who was on top of me. He got off me, and then started shifting into himself. I was still frozen on the ground where I was, barely catching my breath. He was old, probably in his forties. He had the most beautiful deep blue eyes I have ever seen. His hair was a little short and black with a little grey in it. He was looking at me strangely. He bent down a little and extended his hand in my direction. I flinched and threw my hands up to protect my face from being slapped. He looked at me in shock. 

“I wasn’t going to hurt you, little girl. I was trying to help you get on your feet” he said in a gentle voice that didn’t exactly match the situation I was in right now. I refused his “help” and got on my feet on my own. He backed off a little giving me some space away from him. I kept looking between the two of them, scared to death. 

They were both naked of course. Not that I actually cared, I wasn’t even interested in looking down I was focused on their faces. The one I hurt with my knife was obviously still pissed off, but he was looking at my hair instead of my face. 

During the collision me and Joseph had earlier, my beanie slipped off and my hair was everywhere now. 

“What is your name little girl?” asked joseph calmly

“Ella” I turned my head towards him and answered reluctantly 

“How old are you Ella?”

“Seventeen”

He narrowed his eyes a little. 

“Do your parents know what you are up to at this time?”

“I have no one, I’m a servant at the pack house” I answered honestly, there was no point in hiding who I am. 

He looked a little sad, which was not what I expected. I was probably reading it wrong. 

“Well, Ella don’t you know that you are forbidden from leaving the pack without your alpha’s permission?” he asked

“My alpha died this morning, I have no alpha” I answered with a challenge in my tone

He looked amused by my answer before saying “Then you must know that when the alpha is killed by another alpha, then the alpha who killed him becomes the new alpha of the pack” 

“He’s not my alpha yet, I didn’t submit to him” I fire back at him

“None the less, he is still your alpha with or without submission, you can’t leave the pack if he doesn’t allow it” answered joseph cautiously before adding “And if I were you right now, I’d watch what I am saying about the alpha, considering you just tried to kill him with your knife” and nodded to the injured guy. 

No. Fucking. Way.